Incentive-Based Conservation Programs in Developing Countries: A Review of Some Key Issues and Suggestions for Improvements

Biodiversity conservation in developing countries has been a challenge because of the combination of rising human populations, rapid technological advances, severe social hardships, and extreme poverty. To address the social, economic, and ecological limitations of people-free parks and reserves, incentives have been incorporated into conservation programs in the hopes of making conservation meaningful to local people. However, such incentive-based programs have been implemented with little consideration for their ability to fulfill promises of greater protection of biodiversity. Evaluations of incentive-based conservation programs indicate that the approach continually falls short of the rhetoric. This article provides an overview of the problems associated with incentive-based conservation approaches in developing countries. It argues that existing incentive-based programs (IBPs) have yet to realize that benefits vary greatly at different “community” scales and that a holistic conceptualization of a community is essential to incorporate the complexities of a heterogeneous community when designing and implementing the IBPs. The spatial complexities involved in correctly identifying the beneficiaries in a community and the short-term focus of IBPs are two major challenges for sustaining conservation efforts. The article suggests improvements in three key areas: accurate identification of “target” beneficiaries, greater inclusion of marginal communities, and efforts to enhance community aptitudes.     

河流型饮用水水源保护区划分比较

比较分析了国内外河流型水源保护区划分的原则、方法和标准,例证了我国不同省份的划分实践。指出,我国各省多采用经验值划分水源保护区范围,部分省份划分方案久未更新,没有充分发挥保护区的作用。提出,应进一步细化水源保护区划分规范指导要求,及时修订省级水源保护区划分方案,并借鉴国外水源保护区划分经验,通过调整水质标准、重视公众参与、利用地理信息系统等方式划分水源保护区,从源头上预防水源污染,降低饮用水公共风险,保障饮用水安全。     

Estimate on spillover effect of environmental pollution between peripheral areas

ABSTRACT

Interaction of environmental pollution between peripheral areas has become a central topic in the field of resources and environment but little is known about the actual impact on peripheral areas in the current literature. This paper sets out a simultaneous equation model to investigate the spillover effect of environmental pollution between China’s peripheral areas utilizing the panel data of 218 cities in China. Making use of indicators for measuring the impact on environmental pollution, it identifies that environmental pollution between cities of China has a significant two-way spillover effect. After standardization of variables, it is found that the spillover effect of peripheral areas on urban environmental pollution cannot be neglected. Nearly, a third of the environmental pollution level in a city is induced by the environmental pollution in peripheral areas. If the indicator of environmental pollution in peripheral areas is missing, wrong conclusions will be drawn. Therefore, government should shift the emphasis of environmental regulation from local to global, and improve the overall environmental quality through coordinated management of regional environment.     

新型树脂对氯酚类物质的吸附研究

合成了乙酰氯修饰树脂NDA-O,与Purolite公司的MN-200相比,合成的树脂比表面积较小,但酸性官能团较多.用两种树脂吸附2-氯酚、4-氯酚和2,4-二氯酚发现,吸附结果可以用Langmuir和Freundlich等温吸附方程很好地模拟,合成的NDA-O对3种氯酚类物质的吸附能力优于MN-200.两种树脂对氯酚类物质的吸附量随着温度的升高而减少,表明吸附是放热过程,同时对氯酚类物质的吸附焓变随着吸附量的增大而减小.对同一种树脂来说,吸附量随着氯代程度的增加而增加,取代氯数相同的时候,吸附量与吸附质的K..成正相关.进一步研究了pH对吸附的影响,在pH大于9时,3种氯酚类物质的吸附量均急剧减少.     

基于震后低压变化的供水管网功能可靠度分析

供水管网的抗震功能是指供水管网在地震作用下能够满足震后城市特定用水需要(需水量和水压)的能力。地震发生后,供水管网一般处于低压供水状态,使得管网中部分用户的水压和水量不能得到全部满足,导致管网部分节点的实际配水量小于需水量。为此,在传统的管网水力分析基础上考虑节点流量随节点水压的动态变化,通过求解非线性水力方程组,得到管网节点实际流量和水压;同时,借鉴结构可靠度分析方法,引入供水管网系统随机水力模型,给出了震后供水管网功能可靠度分析的一次二阶矩方法。以一实际管网为例,演示了震后低压供水时管网功能可靠度分析的应用方法。     

Immunotoxicity of bisphenol a to Carassius auratus Lymphocytes and macrophages following in vitro exposure

Bisphenol A （BPA） is the monomer component of polycarbonate plastics and classified as an endocrine disrupting chemical （EDC）. The reproductive toxicity of BPA has been extensively studied in mammals; however, relatively little information is available on the immunotoxic responses of fish to BPA. In this study, we investigated the effects of BPA on the immune functions of lymphocytes and macrophages in Carassius auratus. The effects of BPA were compared with those of two natural steroid hormones, estradiol and hydrocortisone. Proliferation of the two types of cells in response to PHA was measured using colorimetric MTT assay. Macrophage respiratory burst stimulated by Con A was measured using chemiluminescence assay. Results showed that BPA （0.054-5.4 mg/L）, estradiol （0.0002-2.0 mg/L） and hydrocortisone （5-50 mg/L） significantly induced Carassius auratus lymphocyte proliferation while higher doses of hydrocortisone （500-5000 mg/L） appeared to be inhibitory. BPA （0.005-50 mg/L）, estradiol （0.005-800 mg/L） and hydrocortisone （0.005-500 mg/L） markedly enhanced macrophage proliferation, whereas higher doses of BPA （500-1000 mg/L） appeared to inhibit cell proliferation. Furthermore, higher dosage of BPA （50 mg/L） and hydrocortisone （50 and 500 mg/L） suppressed the macrophages respiratory burst while estradiol is stimulative all the doses tested （0.05-500 mg/L）. In conclusion, BPA could have immunotoxicity to Carassius auratus and functional changes of lymphocyte and macrophage in Carassius auratus may be different between low and high dosages.     

Application of environmental risk assessment for strategic decision-making in coastal areas: case studies in China

Environmental risk assessment (ERA) is a powerful technical tool for analyzing potential and extreme adverse environmental impacts, and has found wide application in supporting decision-making processes over the last two decades. However, to date there has been no interrelated application of ERA to support the processes of strategic decision-making (SDM), especially in coastal areas.

In this paper, we attempt to verify the feasibility of the proposed integrated ERA–SDM approach and its methodology by applying it to two case studies (in Xiamen Bay and Luoyuan Bay) of the principal coastal functional zoning (PCFZ, a kind of SDM and similar to the coastal and marine spatial planning in western). The results show that the integrated ERA–SDM approach could integrate ERA into the entire SDM process, directly support the PCFZ, and avoid or mitigate dire environmental risk that can be introduced by SDM processes.     

Linking Nitrogen Export to Landscape Heterogeneity: The Role of Infrastructure and Storm Flows in a Mediterranean Urban System

Urban ecosystems are often sources of nonpoint source (NPS) nitrogen (N) pollution to aquatic ecosystems. However, N export from urban watersheds is highly variable. Examples of densely urbanized watersheds are not well studied, and these may have comparatively low export rates. Commonly used metrics of landscape heterogeneity may obscure our ability to discern relationships among landscape characteristics that can explain these lower export rates. We expected that differences not often captured by these metrics in the relative cover of vegetation, structures, and impervious surfaces would better explain observed variation in N export. We examined these relationships during storms in residential watersheds. Contrary to expectations, land cover did not directly predict variation in N or water export. Instead, N export was strongly linked to drainage infrastructure density. Our research highlights the role of fine‐scaled landscape attributes, mainly infrastructure, in explaining patterns of N export from densely urbanized watersheds. Changes to hydrologic flow paths by infrastructure explained more variation in N export than land cover. Our findings support further development of landscape ecological models of urban N export that focus on hydrologic modification by infrastructure rather than traditional landscape measures such as land use, as indicators for evaluating patterns of NPS nitrogen pollution in densely urbanized watersheds.     

Coupling of the Water Cycle with Patterns of Urban Growth in the Baltimore Metropolitan Region,United States

Regional municipal water plans typically do not recognize complex coupling patterns or that increased withdrawals in one location can result in changes in water availability in others. We investigated the interaction between urban growth and water availability in the Baltimore metropolitan region where urban growth has occurred beyond the reaches of municipal water systems into areas that rely on wells in low‐productivity Piedmont aquifers. We used the urban growth model SLEUTH and the hydrologic model ParFlow.CLM to evaluate this interaction with urban growth scenarios in 2007 and 2030. We found decreasing groundwater availability outside of the municipal water service area. Within the municipal service area we found zones of increasing storage resulting from increased urban growth, where reduced vegetation cover dominated the effect of urbanization on the hydrologic cycle. We also found areas of decreasing storage, where expanding impervious surfaces played a larger role. Although the magnitude of urban growth and change in water availability for the simulation period were generally small, there was considerable spatial heterogeneity of changes in subsurface storage. This suggests that there are locally concentrated areas of groundwater sensitivity to urban growth where water shortages could occur or where drying up of headwater streams would be more likely. The simulation approach presented here could be used to identify early warning indicators of future risk.     

Toward an Alignment of Stormwater Flow and Urban Space

Urban stormwater practices are individually diverse, but they are components of an overall urban watershed system. This study proposes a conceptual model of that system, including its component spatial areas, their arrangement along the flow route, and their associations with urban land uses and values. The model defines three spatial areas along the flow route which have evolved over time into their present forms: (1) the source area, which is arranged and furnished primarily or entirely for human use, accommodation, and comfort; (2) the perimeter area, where specialized stormwater facilities carry away source‐area runoff or buffer downstream areas from its impacts; and (3) the downstream area, which receives the discharges from the perimeter or directly from the source area. Each area presents a specific combination of stormwater features and human interactions, and excludes others. Considering stormwater flows and functions in the context of physical urban spaces brings into view the spaces’ urban structures and interacting agendas. This model allows practitioners to navigate conceptually through the system, and to focus appropriate objectives and structures on each project site.